princess" target="_blank" title="n.公主;王妃;亲王夫人">
princess, as he
supposed it must, into the mountain, where she
would be certain to meet the
goblins rushing back enraged from
their defeat. But he
hurried on in the hope of overtaking her
first. When he arrived, however, at the place where the path
turned off for the mine, he found that the thread did not turn with
it, but went straight up the mountain. Could it be that the thread
was leading him home to his mother's
cottage? Could the
princess" target="_blank" title="n.公主;王妃;亲王夫人">
princessbe there? He bounded up the mountain like one of its own goats,
and before the sun was up the thread had brought him indeed to his
mother's door. There it vanished from his fingers, and he could
not find it, search as he might.
The door was on the latch, and he entered. There sat his mother by
the fire, and in her arms lay the
princess" target="_blank" title="n.公主;王妃;亲王夫人">
princess, fast asleep.
'Hush, Curdie!' said his mother. 'Do not wake her. I'm so glad
you're come! I thought the cobs must have got you again!'
With a heart full of delight, Curdie sat down at a corner of the
hearth, on a stool opposite his mother's chair, and gazed at the
princess" target="_blank" title="n.公主;王妃;亲王夫人">
princess, who slept as
peacefully as if she had been in her own
bed. All at once she opened her eyes and fixed them on him.
'Oh, Curdie! you're come!' she said quietly. 'I thought you
would!'
Curdie rose and stood before her with
downcast eyes.
'Irene,' he said, 'I am very sorry I did not believe you.'
'Oh, never mind, Curdie!' answered the
princess" target="_blank" title="n.公主;王妃;亲王夫人">
princess. 'You couldn't,
you know. You do believe me now, don't you?'
'I can't help it now. I ought to have helped it before.'
'Why can't you help it now?'
'Because, just as I was going into the mountain to look for you, I
got hold of your thread, and it brought me here.'
'Then you've come from my house, have you?'
'Yes, I have.'
'I didn't know you were there.'
'I've been there two or three days, I believe.'
'And I never knew it! Then perhaps you can tell me why my
grandmother has brought me here? I can't think. Something woke me
- I didn't know what, but I was frightened, and I felt for the
thread, and there it was! I was more frightened still when it
brought me out on the mountain, for I thought it was going to take
me into it again, and I like the outside of it best. I
supposedyou were in trouble again, and I had to get you out. But it
brought me here instead; and, oh, Curdie! your mother has been so
kind to me - just like my own
grandmother!'
Here Curdie's mother gave the
princess" target="_blank" title="n.公主;王妃;亲王夫人">
princess a hug, and the
princess" target="_blank" title="n.公主;王妃;亲王夫人">
princessturned and gave her a sweet smile, and held up her mouth to kiss
her.
'Then you didn't see the cobs?'asked Curdie.
'No; I haven't been into the mountain, I told you, Curdie.'
'But the cobs have been into your house - all over it - and into
your bedroom, making such a row!'
'What did they want there? It was very rude of them.'
'They wanted you - to carry you off into the mountain with them,
for a wife to their
prince Harelip.'
'Oh, how dreadful' cried the
princess" target="_blank" title="n.公主;王妃;亲王夫人">
princess, shuddering.
'But you needn't be afraid, you know. Your
grandmother takes care
of you.'
'Ah! you do believe in my
grandmother, then? I'm so glad! She
made me think you would some day.'
All at once Curdie remembered his dream, and was silent, thinking.
'But how did you come to be in my house, and me not know it?' asked
the
princess" target="_blank" title="n.公主;王妃;亲王夫人">
princess.
Then Curdie had to explain everything - how he had watched for her
sake, how he had been wounded and shut up by the soldiers, how he
heard the noises and could not rise, and how the beautiful old lady
had come to him, and all that followed.
'Poor Curdie! to lie there hurt and ill, and me never to know it!'
exclaimed the
princess" target="_blank" title="n.公主;王妃;亲王夫人">
princess, stroking his rough hand. 'I would have
come and nursed you, if they had told me.'
'I didn't see you were lame,' said his mother.
'Am I, mother? Oh - yes - I suppose I ought to be! I declare I've
never thought of it since I got up to go down
amongst the cobs!'
'Let me see the wound,' said his mother.
He pulled down his
stocking - when behold, except a great scar, his
leg was
perfectly sound!
Curdie and his mother gazed in each other's eyes, full of wonder,
but Irene called out:
'I thought so, Curdie! I was sure it wasn't a dream. I was sure
my
grandmother had been to see you. Don't you smell the roses? It
was my
grandmother healed your leg, and sent you to help me.'
'No, Princess Irene,' said Curdie; 'I wasn't good enough to be
allowed to help you: I didn't believe you. Your
grandmother took
care of you without me.'
'She sent you to help my people, anyhow. I wish my king-papa would
come. I do want so to tell him how good you have been!'
'But,' said the mother, 'we are forgetting how frightened your
people must be. You must take the
princess" target="_blank" title="n.公主;王妃;亲王夫人">
princess home at once, Curdie -
or at least go and tell them where she is.'
'Yes, mother. Only I'm
dreadfully hungry. Do let me have some
breakfast first. They ought to have listened to me, and then they
wouldn't have been taken by surprise as they were.'
'That is true, Curdie; but it is not for you to blame them much.
You remember?'
'Yes, mother, I do. Only I must really have something to eat.'
'You shall, my boy - as fast as I can get it,' said his mother,
rising and
setting the
princess" target="_blank" title="n.公主;王妃;亲王夫人">
princess on her chair.
But before his breakfast was ready, Curdie jumped up so suddenly as
to
startle both his companions.
'Mother, mother!' he cried, 'I was forgetting. You must take the
princess" target="_blank" title="n.公主;王妃;亲王夫人">
princess home yourself. I must go and wake my father.'
Without a word of
explanation, he rushed to the place where his
father was
sleeping. Having
thoroughly roused him with what he
told him he darted out of the
cottage.
CHAPTER 29
Masonwork
He had all at once remembered the
resolution of the
goblins to
carry out their second plan upon the
failure of the first. No
doubt they were already busy, and the mine was
therefore in the
greatest danger of being flooded and rendered
useless - not to
speak of the lives of the miners.
When he reached the mouth of the mine, after rousing all the miners
within reach, he found his father and a good many more just
entering. They all
hurried to the gang by which he had found a way
into the
goblin country. There the
foresight of Peter had already
collected a great many blocks of stone, with
cement, ready for
building up the weak place - well enough known to the
goblins.
Although there was not room for more than two to be actually
building at once, they managed, by
setting all the rest to work in
preparing the
cement and passing the stones, to finish in the
course of the day a huge buttress filling the whole gang, and
supported everywhere by the live rock. Before the hour when they
usually dropped work, they were satisfied the mine was secure.
They had heard
goblin hammers and pickaxes busy all the time, and
at length fancied they heard sounds of water they had never heard
before. But that was
otherwise accounted for when they left the
mine, for they stepped out into a
tremendous storm which was raging
all over the mountain. The
thunder was bellowing, and the
lightning lancing out of a huge black cloud which lay above it and
hung down its edges of thick mist over its sides. The lightning
was breaking out of the mountain, too, and flashing up into the
cloud. From the state of the brooks, now
swollen into raging
torrents, it was
evident that the storm had been storming all day.
The wind was blowing as if it would blow him off the mountain, but,
anxious about his mother and the
princess" target="_blank" title="n.公主;王妃;亲王夫人">
princess, Curdie darted up through
the thick of the
tempest. Even if they had not set out before the
storm came on, he did not judge them safe, for in such a storm even
their poor little house was in danger. Indeed he soon found that
but for a huge rock against which it was built, and which protected
it both from the blasts and the waters, it must have been swept if
it was not blown away; for the two torrents into which this rock
parted the rush of water behind it united again in front of the
cottage - two roaring and dangerous streams, which his mother and
the
princess" target="_blank" title="n.公主;王妃;亲王夫人">
princess could not possibly have passed. It was with great
difficulty that he forced his way through one of them, and up to
the door.
The moment his hand fell on the latch, through all the
uproar of
winds and Waters came the
joyous cry of the
princess" target="_blank" title="n.公主;王妃;亲王夫人">
princess:
'There's Curdie! Curdie! Curdie!'
She was sitting wrapped in blankets on the bed, his mother trying
for the
hundredth time to light the fire which had been drowned by
the rain that came down the chimney. The clay floor was one mass
of mud, and the whole place looked
wretched. But the faces of the
mother and the
princess" target="_blank" title="n.公主;王妃;亲王夫人">
princess shone as if their troubles only made them
the merrier. Curdie burst out laughing at the sight of them.
'I never had such fun!' said the
princess" target="_blank" title="n.公主;王妃;亲王夫人">
princess, her eyes twinkling and
her pretty teeth shining. 'How nice it must be to live in a
cottage on the mountain!'
'It all depends on what kind your inside house is,' said the
mother.
'I know what you mean,' said Irene. 'That's the kind of thing my
grandmother says.'
By the time Peter returned the storm was nearly over, but the
streams were so
fierce and so
swollen that it was not only out of
the question for the
princess" target="_blank" title="n.公主;王妃;亲王夫人">
princess to go down the mountain, but most
dangerous for Peter even or Curdie to make the attempt in the
gathering darkness.
'They will be
dreadfully frightened about you,' said Peter to the
princess" target="_blank" title="n.公主;王妃;亲王夫人">
princess, 'but we cannot help it. We must wait till the morning.'
With Curdie's help, the fire was lighted at last, and the mother
set about making their supper; and after supper they all told the
princess" target="_blank" title="n.公主;王妃;亲王夫人">
princess stories till she grew
sleepy. Then Curdie's mother laid
her in Curdie's bed, which was in a tiny little garret-room. As
soon as she was in bed, through a little window low down in the
roof she caught sight of her
grandmother's lamp shining far away
beneath, and she gazed at the beautiful
silvery globe until she
fell asleep.
CHAPTER 30
The King an the Kiss
The next morning the sun rose so bright that Irene said the rain
had washed his face and let the light out clean. The torrents were
still roaring down the side of the mountain, but they were so much
smaller as not to be dangerous in the
daylight. After an early
breakfast, Peter went to his work and Curdie and his mother set out
to take the
princess" target="_blank" title="n.公主;王妃;亲王夫人">
princess home. They had difficulty in getting her dry
across the streams, and Curdie had again and again to carry her,
but at last they got safe on the broader part of the road, and
walked
gently down towards the king's house. And what should they
see as they turned the last corner but the last of the king's troop
riding through the gate!
'Oh, Curdie!' cried Irene, clapping her hands right joyfully,'my
king-papa is come.'
The moment Curdie heard that, he caught her up in his arms, and set
off at full speed, crying:
come on, mother dear! The king may break his heart before he knows
that she is safe.'
Irene clung round his neck and he ran with her like a deer. When
he entered the gate into the court, there sat the king on his
horse, with all the people of the house about him,
weeping and
hanging their heads. The king was not
weeping, but his face was
white as a dead man's, and he looked as if the life had gone out of
him. The men-at-arms he had brought with him sat with
horror-stricken faces, but eyes flashing with rage,
waiting only
for the word of the king to do something - they did not know what,